


Keys

by Converselaces



Category: One Piece
Genre: Captured, F/M, Revelations, Short Story, sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26456863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Converselaces/pseuds/Converselaces
Summary: A short story that takes place after Wano. Kinda angsty? That's a lie it's definitely angsty. tiny fluffy at end.Kissing in weird circumstances *finger guns*Will probably be just 2-3 chapters:) Enjoy!
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Tashigi
Comments: 20
Kudos: 24





	Keys

This was not how Wano was supposed to end.

Zoro leans against the cold stones of his prison, eye closed, wincing as acidic water drips down the wall against exposed flesh. His back was shredded, raw and oozing, strips of skin carved off his arms legs and torso. infected and blistered.

At least they're safe. They gotta be safe...

The pirate hunter starts hacking, disease rotting his insides, blood spraying from cracked lips, throat dry except for the globby liquid coating it, suffocating.

"What do you want?" He wheezes, not bothering to look up when he senses someone standing outside his cell. He tries to pull up a wicked smirk, determined to show he hadn't been broken. He _won't_ break.

Talking hurts though, and it's all he can do to stay upright as he hacks again, can feel cells dying faster than they can regenerate....

He can feel himself disappearing.

He starts to slump, tottering forward, and slams a hand on the ground, locking his arm, teeth grinding as he tries not to fall straight on his face.

Can't be broken.

Not till he sees them again. Not till he knows.

Damn he feels pathetic.

He finally looks up, wary. Ready. He could take-

Tashigi stands on the other side of iron doors. His eye goes wide for a second before another coughing fit grabs his chest. When he looks up again, his glare is dangerous.

The marine captain winces.

This was not how Wano was supposed to end.

Her fingers tighten, scraping at her skin, arms crossed as she almost hugs herself, feeling small as she stares at the man in front of her.

A hollow shell, blood stains everywhere on filthy ripped cloth, shivering, and she hates how quickly the murder in his glare gives way to exhaustion. It makes sense. She just never thought that even he could fall...

No matter what drugs Vegapunk pumped him with.

No one expected the single marine ship to arrive at Onigashima 3 weeks ago in the middle of the Pirate Samurai brawl. No one expected the infamous scientist themself to step from the deck, gas mask in hand, and every hideous thing Ceaser failed to achieve, Vegapunk unleashed.

Men crumpled, bodies stiff and perfectly normal except the blood trickling from their eyes.

Kaido almost fell. She didn't know if any of the Straw Hats made it... even after the man sitting in front of her pushed them off the side of the skull to the safe ocean below before collapsing. That was after 12 minutes of breathing in the stuff. Most henchmen had died in seconds.

_"We'll keep him. I'm running low on test subjects anyway." Vegapunk had kicked the swordsman's corpse with aloof interest, tilted their head to closer inspect before a thin smile stretched across their face. "I love a challenge."_

Silence stretches between the two, broken only by Zoro's raspy breathing.

"You just here to gawk?" He asks finally, the words mumbled and spiteful. Of course she'd want to soak in her victory. She had his swords now. His evil pirate mug'll never threaten 'innocent' people again. He grins weakly as he looks back up at her. "Or you pissed you didn't get to kill me yourself?"

The woman flinches.

"You're an idiot Roronoa." She bites back, quick, shoulders hunched, every muscle straining as she makes her choice. "I could still kill you."

Iron clangs against iron as suddenly she sticks keys in the lock, swinging the door open.

"Vegapunk gets bored easily." Tashigi continues, striding purposefully through the cell until she's several feet away then-

_!BAP!_

He can feel bones crack in his skull as her heel connects with his jaw, the kick stunning as he flies through the air until chains cuffed to his hands go taught and he crashes to the ground only several feet away.

Zoro groans, forehead presses against the cool floor, stars dancing in his vision as every sick muscle contracts and he dry heaves, trying to empty his stomach of his own rotted flesh.

Her boots clack against the wet stones and he tries pressing himself back up when she grabs his collar and slams him against the wall, the action too easy, his normally bulky frame stripped of weight and substance.

His vision bleary, Zoro tries to focus on her face, shocked as bitter wrath wells inside. So even she's gone f***ing mad.

"All that sh*t about innoce-"

"DONT BE SURPRISED-" She yells over him, rage in her eyes as she keeps him upright by the grip on his tattered collar "-WHEN ITS MY BLADE THAT RUNS YOU THROUGH FOR THE LAST TIME."

Her chest heaves, entire body shaking as she glares at him, murder in her eyes, and keeps yelling threats. Threats, and slaps, and kicks and

A wink

He knows he saw it.

For a millisecond, he saw Tashigi. Not whoever this crazy woman is standing over him.

Then she's gone.

And he lays in filth, puddles of his own blood, slowly deteriorating from the inside out. Too weak to push himself up. Too weak to do anything except wonder if he should make peace and accept death.

.  
.  
.  
"That was brutal!" The vice warden laughs, slapping Tashigi on the back as she walks into the security room. She laughs back, placing triumphant hands on her hips.

"I'll have him broke in days." Tashigi declares, smug with confidence. Guards and commanders hurrah and jeer, asking her what methods she planned to use, why she hates the guy so much. Fun prison guard talk. She regailes them with plans to hurt him, to strip him bare of pride and stubborn will. Silent determination growing inside as her heart races more and more.

It's easy to act enraged when you are.

Just switch out names, and it makes for a very believable performance.

_"I want you to stay." Smoker mouthed the words as he passed her in the hall, facing away from hyper-sensitive surveillance den den mushi. They had just witnessed the fall of Onigashima. The slaughtering of the samurais right with the pirates weighing heavy on both of them. The annual vice admiral meeting had been even worse._

_The science division was to replace the warlords. This was the new superpower of the seas, to regain balance, no, FINALLY, to make the whole world submit to absolute justice. There would finally be safe order and consistency!_

_Aukina looked like a demon when he grinned after the declaration, victory firing in his eyes, blind._

_she didn't find the note in her back pocket until that night. Had enough sense to sneak it in her paperwork, make it seem average when she read the SWORD mission._

_Vegapunk always watched. They knew everything that went on in their lab. It's why they kept staff at a maximum of 50. Lucky for the marine captain, one of their guards died on Onigashima so she signed on for patrol duty._

_Which is how Tashigi saw the truth one day, a simple shift in the security room, the pile of bodies displayed on a monitor as if nothing could be more normal. Lab assistants pulling the gun and shooting Mocha._

_Giant children who never made it home._

That was a week ago.

Roronoa's next. She knows. He's the only prisoner. The test subject of perfecting Vegapunks disease. The scientist had the sickness and the cure, wanted a single element that could kill in seconds or over years. Wanted it to be reversible, effective for interrogations.

They were close. And then Roronoa would be gone too.

Her chest tightens, an anvil stuck in her ribs.

She had been so wrong. About him. About a lot of things.

Tashigi's fists clench, her smile slightly crazed as she watches the security footage in his cell, trying to keep the facade, trying to stop her hand from pulling Shigure and slaughtering every last guard in the room.

Who watched. And did nothing. There was no justice here.

"I'll make him submit. Slowly. He won't even know he's been broken until it's too late." She lays the foundation. Whistles and "ooooohh!"s fill the room as sick men twist her words to whatever they want to imagine. She lets them.

She has to get him out. She has to get him back to his crew, so they can help in the war.

We have to take down the marines.

.  
.  
.

She came again the next day. and the next. Each visit brought brutality and lies.

You failed. They're all dead.

Chopper's a fur coat in Marie Jois now.

Luffy didn't smile when they executed him.

Your name will never reach heaven.

lies. they have to be lies.

Nightmares started. He didn't know if it was her or the new dose they pumped in him. Probably the drugs. She sucked at torture. But the few times he'd bothered to search for a sign, _something_ to prove this was an act, all he saw was hate and fear rolling off her aura. Her brown eyes always hard, she doesn't wink again. And he quickly grows to despise her. Weak. That she could get corrupted. He thought she was stronger than that.

... he thought she was a rival. Maybe not a full rival with swords but, a woman who could sharpen him. Test him, keep him honest with himself.

Now she kicks him in broken ribs, slams pointed boots into his temple, and he doesn't even have the strength to curl up in defense. Not after the whippings, the rack, all these stupid 'tests' to measure the effects of whatever the hell they pump into him every few hours. 

Your name won't reach heaven.

Zoro shrinks at the thought, and in the quiet of the cell, finally alone, hope cracks just a bit. He's still got so much to do.. too many promises to keep. He doesn't know if he's waiting for a rescue, or for death. He only knows he has to hold on. He has to hold on. 

.

.

.

Rusted hinges creak as she opens the cell door and turns to see him slumped on the floor, asleep or unconscious. He almost looks small. 

almost.

His eye cracks open and flits to her, narrowing in disgust as he starts to push himself up. Heart in her throat, Tashigi can't stop her shoulders loosening in relief. He still hates her. good. that means her performance has to be semi believable. or that he's just really out of it... she decides to bet on the first option. Please let it be the first option..

Stalking over to him, she squats down, arms resting on her knees as she watches him struggle to sit up- she just has to sell this act for a few more hours- then slams her fist into his stomach before he can get settled. 

"ngh-" Zoro grunts, doubling over and then slipping to the ground as he loses balance when she grabs his collar and throws him to the darkest corner of the cell, his chains longer from when they switched it last 'testing'. The marine can barely stop herself from wincing.

-just a few more hours-

She walks slowly, each step purposeful, hips swaying, until she stands over him. Cameras in each corner of the cell, advanced audio that can pick up the sound of a crumb dropping. 

-she can sell this.-

Leaning down, ass in the air for a second to distract stupid guards, she grabs Roronoa, slams him against the wall and kisses him.

The swordsman stares at her in shock, lips slack, then pursing tight as fast as he can- around her tongue, already in his mouth-tastes like rot and blood- and she lets the pill drop, pushing it as far as she can for his throat as they stare at each other, eyes wide and his is a n g r y until he sees it. Apologetic searching flashing in pretty brown irises, her aura sincere and desperate. 

He tastes the pill, she keeps him pressed against the wall, waiting, disgusted wrath turns to understanding and he swallows. 

The second its down she breaks away, both of them gasping as she steps back then slams her knee up right where it _hurts_. Screams erupt from the guard room that's several halls away, and Tashigi knows she has an oblivious audience. 

Zoro's eyes bulge- oh God why- and before he can drop to the ground Tashigi round house kicks him to the opposite corner of the cell, once again taking her time to sashay over. Zoro glares at her warily, confused- what is she doing?!- as she drops to a squat again and grabs his chin in her hand, pulling him so they're bare inches away. Her mask barely hangs on as she tries to keep her expression cold and calculating even as flustered apology and concern race through the facade. 

-oh God she wished she had taken acting classes or stage combat of some sort why did she have to hurt him to make this plan work?!and goodness she hopes he knows it was the best plan she had in such a short time, that she wants him to be okay so just one more time-

Tashigi slams his back against iron bars, mouths crash, and before he can react again tongues twist together, cold metal between them, lips sucking and sealing as she maneuvers two keys into his mouth, waits for recognition to flit through his eye before she starts to unlock her lips from his.

 _Heart pounding in her chest-_

He bites the foreign objects- 

_she hated that,_

can't let it show on camera

 _forcing him,_

she might hit him again, 

_not how she ever pictured her first kiss with him to go-_

what ar-keys? when-

They blink, barely an inch between them, 

strange relief rises inside Zoro- he knew she couldn't go bad that fast, 

_WAIT._

damn she's close, not how he expected-.....-

Tashigi squeezes her eyes shut, Zoro blinks

FOCUS.

"How's it feel, not having control?" 

Tashigi whispers the words, knowing damn well the camera audio will pick it up, as she swings her arm back and throttles her fist into his stomach again, managing to soften the blow so Zoro only grunts as he doubles over, still biting the hidden keys. "Do you feel powerless yet, sexist bigot!" Tashigi yells, scrambling to regain a 'torture' mood to pacify their audience and any future reviews of surveillance footage. "Your own body is not yours to command!"

He glares up at her, eyebrow raised, but she sees the real question. 

What's the plan?

Tashigi grins wickedly, in total control of her mask again, as she moves back and lets one knee rest on the ground as she stays crouched in front of him.

"Just wait, when the moment hits you'll know,"

She pauses, gaze measured and meaningful, then follows quickly with "you have nothing left to offer the world, not even your flesh and blood."

Zoro's nod is so slight it easily passes as a flinch. 


End file.
